Tag Archives: adobe

OK, so my last MBP was recently crushed on a flight, totally stuffed, mobo damaged, HD has errors so not much easily retrievable there. So install my Photoshop CS3 onto my new machine. I have it already on the Mac Pro and you are allowed 2 copies, one on a desktop, one on a laptop. Prob is that since my last machine is unusable, I am unable to deregister the old machine.

So when I whack the serial in it balks at me saying I can’t install it. Fair nuf, I think to myself, I’ll just ring em like when you change a part in your PC and have to ring MS.

So the number in the registration part of the Photoshop software says to ring 1800 005 034. After 15 minutes on hold I get a call centre in Bangalore or somewhere where the guy has an attitude and is is rather unhelpful, and after going thru everything proceeds to tell me that I have rung the number for American and Canadian registrations. I try to explain to him that a 1800 number only works in Australia and I have rung the number it told me to ring for Australia. Idiot who cannot comprehend anything that doesn’t match his script continues to insist I ring 1300 550 205. Pissed off I hang up and try it.

Get a recorded message saying that the number is no longer valid and I need to ring 1800 504 … but doesn’t repeat it, so have to ring it back AGAIN to catch the full number and write it down. 1800 504 971. OK, so ring THAT number and INCREDIBLY get a similar message saying THAT number is ALSO invalid, and that I need to ring 1800 614 863. FARK!! How can they so totally stuff it all up?

Phone THAT number and get a bloody recorded message saying that the Aussie line is only open between 9-5 Monday to Friday!! WTF!?!?! How the hell can they justify having global call centres that are open but not service certain countries even though they have legitimately purchased the software? The tool on the phone could even see my details, he just refused to help. What if I was needing the software due to a deadline of something? And they wonder why people pirate their software when they treat legitimate customers with such contempt!

So I ring the first number back, and even after telling them 5 times over that the 1300 number DOES NOT work, the idiot CONTINUES to tell me I need to ring the same bloody number. He just could not comprehend that he was giving out an incorrect number and that there was no one on that number.

Continuing with the theme somewhat, here are 7 links I know you’ll enjoy. I’ve put them here for your satisfaction, but really, they’re just here so I can get them out of my webbrowser and make room for more news that I missed out on. I’m under 2000 RSS items (I started at 4000), so progress is being made! Enjoy.

So, in the list we have:

Dynomighty Mighty Wallets
These things rock. I already own a tri-fold dot-matrix wallet which gets questioned frequently in public, and to stand out more, I’m going to get some more. They make great gifts, but really – if the Australian dollar wasn’t so sucky at the moment, I’d buy them in a heartbeat. They’ll have to wait, however.

Glow Grafitti
I’m no grafitti artist, but glow in the dark spray paint? That’s like any childhood dream! I found this on the internet – thanks Boing Boing Gadgets – a while ago, lost the link, but then found it again, so here it is for posterity. There’s probably nothing cooler than glow in the dark grafitti. Again – a little exxy at $59 a can, and when you convert that into Aussie dollars, well, it hurts.

Uma Doodlebook Frame
A tradition photo frame (read: non-digital) with a twist – you can create your own borders simply by drawing them. It’s got 80 pages, so you can create up to 80 custom borders for any of your pictures. Again, how cool is that? I rekon I’ll just stick one photo in it, and then use it as a scratchpad for notes and stuff.

iTunes Music Store – the web version
Yeah – again, props to df.net for this one – this one’s cool. It’s essentially a webbrowser-based version of the iTunes store. It’s a pretty good rendition of the actual store, but you need to open itunes to buy stuff from it anyway, so yeah. Handy if you don’t have iTunes on your current computer, or need to browse something quickly at the library or whatever.

Windows Shutdown Crapfest
I had no idea Windows developement was this convoluted. It’s actually amazing that they manage to ship products at all, considering that they’re “the left hand cannot see what the right hand is doing” approach with regards to all their code. No wonder Vista was so bad – here’s to Windows 7, the start (hopefully) of a new era in Microsoft computing.

Unlike Siegler, I think the large number of recent Apple employees now working at Palm on the Pre suggests that the relationship between the two companies is cold — ice cold. What I heard last month at Macworld Expo is that Palm has a standing offer for engineers at Apple to jump ship, with a starting salary of 1.5 times their current Apple salary.